212 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



To those who have not seen any portion of Mr. Audubon's 

 Original Drawings, it may be proper to state, that their supe- 

 riority consists in the accuracy as to proportion and outline, 

 and the variety and truth of the attitudes and positions of the 

 figures, resulting from peculiar means discovered and employed 

 by him, and his attentive examination of the objects portrayed, 

 during a long series of years. Mr. Audubon has not contented 

 himself with single profile views, but in many instances has 

 grouped his figures, so as to represent the originals in their 

 natural avocations, and has placed them on branches of trees 

 decorated with foliage, blossoms and fruits, or amidst plants 

 of numerous species some are seen pursuing their prey in the 

 air, searching for food amongst the leaves and herbage, sitting 

 on their nests, or feeding their young; whilst others, of a dif- 

 ferent nature, swim, wade, or glide in or over their allotted ele- 

 ment. The insects, reptiles and fishes that form the food of 

 some of the birds, have now and then been introduced in the 

 drawings. In nearly every instance where a difference of plum- 

 age exists between the sexes, both male and female have been 

 represented, and the extraordinary changes which some species 

 undergo in their progress from youth to maturity, have been 

 depicted. 



The plants are all copied from nature, and- as many are 

 remarkable for their beauty, their usefulness, or their rarity, 

 the Botanist cannot fail to look upon them with delight. 



The particulars of the plan of the work can be reduced to 

 the following heads: 



1. The size of the work is royal octavo, the paper being 

 of the finest quality. 



2. The Plates representing the Birds are correctly reduced 

 from the original drawings, and are coloured in the most care- 

 ful manner. 



3. The work will appear in numbers, on the first and fif- 

 teenth of every month. 



4. Each number will consist of Five Plates, accompanied 

 with full descriptions of the habits and localities of the birds, 

 their anatomy and digestive organs, (with occasionally wood 



